Over 100 Medical and Public Health Organizations Call for Federal Gun Research

“Today, during National Public Health Week, 141 of the Nation’s leading medical and public health organizations, including the American Medical Association, American Public Health Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, representing more than 1 million health professionals across the country, joined with members of the scientific community and research universities to urge Congress toend the dramatic chilling effect of the current rider language restricting gun violence research and to fund this critical work at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“ ‘The medical and public health communities continue to believe gun violence, which claims an average of 91 American lives daily, is a serious public health threat that must be handled with urgency,’ said Alice Chen, MD, Executive Director of Doctors for America. ‘Federal research has addressed many of our Nation’s most pressing public health challenges and it is time do the same with gun violence. Congress must lift the barrier to research that has persisted for nearly 20 years and fund the work that we need to save lives and prevent future tragedies.’ “